Cerebral nocardiosis in renal transplant patients

Abstract

Nocardiosis is a disease found with increasing frequency in both normal and compromised hosts (Curry, 1980). The organism is a gram positive acid-fast bacterium of the genus aerobic Actinomycetacae. Nocardiosis has been described in association with neoplastic disease (Young et al., 1971), heart transplantation (Krick et al., 1975), and renal transplantation as well as in the normal population (Weed et al., 1955; Beaman et al., 1976). When confined to the lungs, with appropriate antibiotic treatment, the survival rate may approach 75% (Palmer et al., 1974). However, when cerebral involvement is present, the prognosis is poor with a mortality rate approaching 87% (Cupp et al., 1960; Hoeprich et al., 1968).